Trivia

Montgomery Clift was widely felt to look too old and unhealthy to be an A1 soldier. Although Clift was only 36 during filming, this was the first full film he had made since his near-fatal 1956 car accident (it occurred during filming of Raintree County (1957)), which had drastically altered his appearance.

During filming, Montgomery Clift called Marlon Brando a slob and commented that he was using only about one third of his talent.

This was Dean Martin's second film following his break-up with longtime comedy partner Jerry Lewis and, perhaps more significantly, his first dramatic film role. Martin connected with co-star Montgomery Clift and who, one of the most respected actors of his generation, helped Martin with his role. They ran lines together and, during the party sequence when he sensed Martin was nervous, Clift hid under the piano and began tickling Martin's leg until he had a laughing fit to help him relax. Martin nicknamed Clift "Spider" because of the extravagant gestures Clift would make when he talked.

Dean Martin was a close friend of Montgomery Clift. Martin was always grateful for the help Clift had given him while making the film, Martin's first major dramatic role, and he would accompany him to parties after the rest of Hollywood had disowned him due to his increasing addictions to drugs and alcohol.

At the time the film was made, Maximilian Schell (Captain Hardenberg) could not speak English and had to learn his lines phonetically from Marlon Brando (Lt. Christian Diestl).